The Gift
by Davish
Summary: Season 1 - Tai's search for firewood turns into a horrible disaster!


**The Gift**   
by Adam Taylor a.k.a. Davish 

**Author's Note:** Well, this is my second Digimon Fan Fic. It takes place during the first season before the DigiDestined defeat Piedmon. 

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"Ahhh, it sure feels good to just sit here and relax," Tai thought to himself, "I haven't done that in a long time." Tai was stretched out under the shade of a big tree while he was observing the other DigiDestined. "What's so cool about that dumb laptop?" Tai wondered as he watched Izzy type away. Matt was under a tree that was closer to the river playing his harmonica. "I love it when Matt plays his harmonica," Tai thought as he got in a more comfortable position to drift off to sleep, "it's so relaxing." 

"I'll show you how it's done!" Sora said. Tai looked over at her. She, Agumon, and Joe were busy building the lunch fire. Actually, Sora (with the aide of Agumon's Pepper Breath), was showing Joe how to build a fire. It was obvious that Joe was embarrassed that Sora could do it better than him. Tai chuckled a bit. T.K. was near the river with Patamon laughing about something. "I wonder what's so funny?" Tai thought, "those two are always up to something." Mimi was by the riverside washing her face with her gloves laid neatly by her. "That Mimi... she knows that she's just going to get dirty again," Tai thought, "why does she even bother?" Kari and Gatomon were sitting under a tree that was close to Izzy. Kari was showing Gatomon how her whistle worked. "Kari has really grown up since she's been in the DigiWorld," Tai thought, "I'm so glad that she has Gatomon to look out for her when I'm not around." 

"Hey! Come back with those!" Mimi yelled as she got up from washing her face. "What's she talking about?" Tai wondered. Then he spotted T.K. and Patamon running from Mimi and quickly figured out why they had been laughing. T.K. had Mimi's gloves clenched in his tight little fist! Mimi looked mad at first, but then she played along and started laughing with them. Tai started to laugh too. Matt stopped playing his harmonica. "T.K., give Mimi her gloves back," Matt said sternly to his little brother. "Aw, we were just having fun," T.K. said as he returned Mimi's gloves. 

"I'm hungry! Is the fire almost ready?" Mimi asked Sora while slipping her gloves back onto her clean hands. "Well, the fire's ready, but we need more wood to keep it going. Would you please go get some for us?" Sora replied. "I just got cleaned up! Why don't you ask Tai?" Mimi asked. "Tai? Will you do it?" Sora asked him. "Well..." Tai said, getting up and stretching, "I guess I could do it." "Thanks Tai," Sora said smiling. "No problem," Tai said smiling back at her. 

Tai headed off into the woods whistling the tune that Matt had been playing on his harmonica. "I wonder what Sora has planned for lunch?" he said, "whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be good. Sora's an excellent cook!" His stomach made a heavy rumbling noise. "I'd better find some firewood pretty quickly or my stomach won't be happy with me!" he said. He continued to whistle Matt's song, when all of the sudden he heard something. He stopped walking and listened for a moment. "Hello?" he said, beginning to tense up. The bushes to his left started to rustle around. He quickly turned towards the bushes and made fists, ready for a fight. 

"Tai, it's me!" a voice said. "Who is that?" Tai thought. "I know that voice, but I can't picture who it belongs to." The rustling was getting louder and louder. Tai's heart was racing. "Relax Tai," the voice said as a little green foot poked out from the bush. "Gekomon? Is that you?" Tai asked as his heartbeat was returning to its normal pace. "Yeah, it's me," Gekomon said, "could you lend me a hand?" "Uh... sure!" Tai replied, slightly embarrassed from being so uneasy. Tai helped the small, green digimon out of the bush. "Oh, thank you Tai," Gekomon said while he brushed the leaves off of himself. "No problem," Tai said, "so why are you way out here, Gekomon?" Tai asked. "It's Princess Mimi," he said with a worried look in his eyes, "she's in great danger!" "What?" Tai said, shocked. "Piedmon has her in captivity by a lake!" Gekomon said, "the lake is not far from here. We must hurry while there's still time!" Gekomon grabbed Tai's hand and they were off. 

Tai was really confused. "Gekomon, how could Mimi be at the other end of the forest when she was just at this end of the forest?" Tai asked. "Piedmon can do many puzzling things. After all, he is a Dark Master," Gekomon replied. "You're sure it's Mimi, right? It's not somebody else who looks like Mimi is it?" Tai asked, still skeptical about the situation. "Do you think that I'd confuse her majesty with somebody else?" Gekomon asked, "Besides, how many humans in the DigiWorld look like Mimi?" Tai looked down, blushing. "So how much further is it, anyway?" Tai asked, trying to hide his ignorance. "We're almost there now," Gekomon said. 

Within fifteen minutes, they had reached a clearing with a giant lake. "Where is she?" Tai asked eagerly. Gekomon pointed to a tall tree about 20 feet from them. "She's behind that tree over there," he said. "Let's go!" Tai said as he started running for the tree. When Tai got to the tree, he didn't see Mimi. He frantically ran around the whole tree to see if she was behind it, but she was nowhere to be found. 

"Where is she?" Tai shouted to Gekomon, who was just approaching the tree. Gekomon just stood there looking lifeless. "Gekomon?" Tai screamed fiercely. "WHA HA HA HA HA!" That laugh echoed through Tai's head, sending chills up his spine. Tai spun around and made fists, but nobody was there. "Stupid DigiDestined!" the voice said. Tai spun back around, breathing heavily and clenching his teeth. There stood Piedmon, crossing his arms. Terror shot up and down through Tai's body. "What have you done with Mimi?" Tai yelled, trying to hide his fear. "Ha ha ha! I knew you'd fall for that! I guess the legend was wrong about the DigiDestined being smart! Ha ha ha ha!" Piedmon cackled. "Gekomon, do something!" Tai screamed, shaking Gekomon's shoulders. Gekomon remained inert. "It looks like I won't be needing that pathetic little Gekomon anymore!" Piedmon said. He snapped his fingers and Gekomon instantly fell to his knees. "Ahhh! My head!" Gekomon yelled, grabbing his head. Piedmon snapped his fingers again and began laughing hysterically. Gekomon started to dematerialize, screaming from the pain. "No!" Tai screamed, grabbing for Gekomon's hand. Tai's hand went right through Gekomon's. "Tai! You can't help me! Listen to me, don't..." Gekomon shouted, but before he could finish his sentence, he completely vanished. 

"Piedmon, you little...!" Tai yelled getting ready to punch him. Piedmon raised his hand, getting ready to snap his fingers. "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Piedmon said. Tai knew that he couldn't compete with Piedmon, so he stopped. He was breathing furiously. "What's the matter, Tai? Are you mad about losing your DigiDestined friends? Ha ha ha!" Piedmon laughed. "What's that supposed to mean?" Tai shouted back at him. "Don't you know?" Piedmon asked, "you're the last DigiDestined! After you're gone, I will be able to control both worlds!" Piedmon said laughing harder. "I wouldn't believe that for a second!" Tai yelled. "Oh, I don't expect you to believe me... that's why I brought you here!" Piedmon said. "What do you mean?" Tai demanded, enraged, "where are my friends?" "Why don't you see for yourself?" Piedmon said. "Huh?" Tai said, confused. "Didn't your worthless friend, Matt, ever tell you about The Lake of Truth?" Piedmon asked. "What are you talking about?" Tai screamed. Piedmon sighed. "You see that lake over there?" he said, pointed to the lake that was behind him. "Yeah, what about it?" Tai said, "That is The Lake of Truth. When you look into it and concentrate, you will see only the truth," Piedmon said with a devilish smile, "go on over and have a look!" 

Tai cautiously walked towards The Lake of Truth. His heartbeat was getting faster by the second. When he reached the lake, he slowly peered down into it. The water was a deep, deep, crystal blue. He sat there, staring into it. He couldn't take his eyes off of it. Slowly, a familiar image began to appear. It was the DigiDestined! Everybody was doing the same things that they were doing before. Matt was playing the same song, Mimi was washing her face, everything was the same. Tai witnessed the same events happen again. "T.K., give Mimi her gloves back," Tai heard. A few minutes later, he said himself stand up. "I guess I could do it," he heard himself say. Just a few moments later, Tai saw himself leave to get the firewood. Everybody continued doing their activities. A short while later, he heard a terrifying sound. It was the painful screams of his friends. Tai's eyes widened as he saw Piedmon walking toward the DigiDestined. Matt told all of the digimon to digivolve to their highest levels, and they did. They were just about to attack Piedmon when he gave a loud, bone-chilling laugh as he snapped his fingers. One by one, the DigiDestined and their digimon were dematerializing. 

"No!" Tai yelled as hot angry tears came suddenly to his eyes. He felt so hopeless. All he could do is sit and watch his friends disappear. The tears made his vision too blurry to see. He wiped them away, and by then the only remaining people were Izzy and Kari. Izzy was frantically trying to figure out how to revive the others, but it was too late. "Ahhhh!" Izzy screamed as his legs started fading away. "Tai, help me!" Kari shouted, but he wasn't there. Tai was bawling now. "No... not her. Not Kari," he thought. "AHH HA HA HA HA HA!" Piedmon laughed, snapping his fingers. "Ahhhhhh!" Kari yelled as she was disappearing. 

Tai sprung up from the lake and ran at Piedmon, enraged. "You killed my friends!" Tai yelled at the top of his lungs. "HA HA HA!" Piedmon laughed, "that's right, and there's nothing you can do about it without your stupid friends and their digimon around!" "Oh yeah?" Tai screamed as he used all of his adrenaline in one, hard punch directed right at Piedmon's face. The contact of Tai's fist on Piedmon's face sent an electric shock throughout Tai's body, sending him flying back. Tai's punch didn't even faze Piedmon! "Ha ha ha! Stupid DigiDestined!" Piedmon said, "because of your foolishness, you will have a more horrible death than your friends!" Tai was in a lot of pain from the shock. He looked up at Piedmon just in time to see him snap his fingers. The ground beneath Tai crumbled apart and broke. "Ahhh!" Tai cried out as he fell through the hole. "Farewell, DigiDestined!" Piedmon shouted. 

Tai was falling down a long, rocky path. On the way down, his leg hit a huge rock and sent a sharp pain through his body. Tai continued tumbling down into the darkness. A few seconds later, he felt his body slam against the ground with a thud. He was unconscious now. 

A long time had passed before Tai finally came to. He felt a cold sweat all over his body. All of the pain came crashing down on him at once and he started crying. He looked around, but all he could see was darkness. He tried to get up, but his leg was in too much pain. "What happened?" he thought. He took off his gloves and felt his forehead. "I'm bleeding," he said. He continued to lie there, helpless. 

"Can anybody hear me?" Tai yelled, but there was no answer. "Can anybody hear me?" Tai yelled louder, but there was still no answer. After a while, Tai gave up and just laid there. "Why didn't I see this coming?" he thought. He tried to roll onto his back, but the pain was too intense. "I can't believe this! I'm a DigiDestined, how could I have failed?" he thought. 

The images that Tai had seen in The Lake of Truth kept coming back and haunting him. "Why did they have to die?" he thought. Tai knew that he was going to die too, but he refused to believe it. He just laid there, resting. After a short while, he fell into a deep slumber. 

Almost exactly when Tai fell asleep, he started dreaming. In his dream, he was standing there, surrounded by pure, white light. "Where am I?" he said. His leg didn't hurt at all now. He reached up and touched his forehead, and it wasn't bleeding. He looked into the distance and saw something. He looked closer and saw seven figures coming toward him. He squinted, trying to see them better. Soon the figures were close enough to tell who they were. It was the other kids! They weren't wearing their normal clothes, but were dressed in white, and seemed to be almost transparent. "Am I dead?" Tai asked. "No, Tai. You're dreaming," Kari said. "Where am I?" Tai asked, looking puzzled. "Let me explain," Izzy said, "this is the afterlife. You see, all of us are dead now, but you are not." "Why am I here then?" Tai asked. "There are things that we need to tell you," Matt said, stepping forward. "Tai, I'm sorry for all of the times we got in arguments. I was just jealous of you because you were the leader," Matt said. Tai's eyes filled with tears. "Tai, if you make it back to the real world, please tell my parents that I love them both," Matt said, looking into Tai's eyes. Tai nodded, unable to speak. Matt stepped back and Sora stepped forward. "Tai, you were the best leader ever. I learned so much from you. I'm really going to miss you," Sora said. Tai struggled to hold back the tears. "If you see my mom again, please tell her that I understand why she was so worried about me all the time and that I love her," Sora said. "Okay," Tai said with his voice shaking. Joe stepped forward and began to speak. "I admire you, Tai. I never told you this, but I've always looked up to you. That's why I would try to be a hero, because you're a hero," Joe said. Tai's tears began to fall freely. Izzy took a step forward and looked into Tai's eyes. "Tai, my crest is the crest of knowledge. I KNOW that you will find a way to save the world. I have faith in you. Stay strong, Tai," Izzy said. Tai nodded, still sobbing. T.K. took a step forward. "Tai, you were like a second big brother to me. I look up to you. Whenever I get scared, I think about how brave you are and I'm not scared anymore. Thank you, Tai," T.K. said. Tai was speechless from T.K.'s words. Mimi stepped forward to speak. "I'm sorry, Tai. I'm sorry for all of the times I complained. I was only thinking of myself. I also look up to you, Tai. Thank you for all that you've done for me," Mimi said. Tai fought to form the words to tell Mimi what was in his heart, but he couldn't do it. Kari walked up to face him. Now it was her turn to speak. "Tai, thank you. You're the best brother ever. I know you don't think that you did a good job being my big brother, but you did the best job anybody could ever do. I love you, Tai," Kari said. Tai looked into his little sister's eyes. "I... I love you too, Kari," he said. "Tai, your dream is almost over now," Kari said, "I want you to have this." She put her hand in his and gave him something. He slowly opened his hand to see what it was, and there was Kari's whistle. Overcome with emotion, he looked back up at Kari. "Thank you Kari... thank you," he said. "Tai, I want you to think of me everytime you look at my whistle. Remember Tai, I will always be in your heart," Kari said. Tai hugged his little sister. "I love you, Kari," he said. He looked up at the others. "I love all of you," he said. They all nodded. "Good-bye, Tai," Kari said. Kari and the others slowly faded away, leaving Tai there in the white light. He fell to his knees and sobbed his eyes out. 

When Tai woke up, he was back in the dark cave, just like he was before he fell asleep. All of the pain from before was back. "Why?" Tai tried to say while crying. The room slowly began to light up. "Huh?" Tai said. He looked to his right, where the light was coming from. He waited there, scared. "Tai?" he heard. "That's Kari's voice!" Tai thought. "Kari! I'm over here!" he yelled back. The light came closer to him. The light was coming from Kari's body. He saw figures behind Kari's body. It was the other DigiDestined and their digimon! "You're hurt, Tai," Kari said, "close your eyes." Tai closed his eyes and Kari closed hers too. Tai was instantly revived! He stood up. "Thank you, Kari! I'm so glad you're all alive!" Tai said. "What are you talking about?" Izzy said, "we were never dead." Tai had a confused look on his face. "But I saw all of you die in The Lake of Truth!" Tai said. "What?" Joe responded, "The Lake of Truth?" "Yeah," Tai replied. "Wait a second," Matt said, "that's impossible! There is only one Lake of Truth, and it's in Puppetmon's forest. It disappeared with the rest of the forest when we defeated Puppetmon!" "But I saw it!" Tai said. "Hold on, Tai, you're confusing me!" Mimi said, "how did you get to The Lake of Truth? I thought you were getting firewood!" Tai explained to everybody how he had gotten to The Lake of Truth. "Hmmm..." Izzy said, scratching his head, "it's very possible that Piedmon used his magic on an ordinary lake to make you see those images." "Well, I guess that explains why The Lake of Truth was more like a Lake of Lies, but how did you guys find me?" Tai asked, still confused. "My light guided us here," Kari replied. "Oh, that makes more sense now," Tai said. "Wait a second, what happened to my whistle?" Kari said, looking around to see if it had fallen off. "Huh? It can't be..." Tai thought. He looked down at himself, and there was Kari's whistle, hanging around his neck. 

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**Author's Note:** Some of you may have questions about how Tai has Kari's whistle at the ending. Well, I know you'll hate me for saying this, but it is up to your imagination. If you really want a logical explanation, e-mail me and I'll give you one. Thank you for reading my second Digimon Fan Fic! I hope you liked it! Please review it now. Thanks. 


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